A Price for Freedom
by SiriusFan13
Summary: Kyoto has been saved. Time has passed. Japan is safe once more. But some threats aren't so public. And sometimes, just because you're free to roam the earth, it doesn't mean you're really free. Revenge fic I'd planned before I'd even heard of Jinchuu! R
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Ruroken. I don't own Jinchuu. I don't own much of anything...

* * *

**"A Price for Freedom"****  
**

_Prologue_

It was an unusually warm day for this late in the year. The sun was just rising, turning the sky lovely shades of lavender, pink and red. Small breezes gently blew leaves from the trees. Everything was peaceful and calm. Himura Kenshin crouched outside, washing laundry. It was early to work, even for him, but his sleep had been limited last night.

_Swish. Splash._

_Swish. Splash._

_Swish. Splash._

Cleaning laundry was one of his favorite chores. It was monotonous. It was boring. It didn't make him think. There were days that Himura Kenshin didn't want to think. He lifted his lavender eyes to the rising sun, as another breeze threatened to loosen some of his red hair from its tie.

It was so peaceful. So quiet. He risked pausing for a moment to experience it. It had been an unusually good year for him. Unexpected, that it was. With all that had happened, it had still been good. He'd found a place to call home. He'd found friends. He'd made amends with Hiko Seijuro. He'd made amends with himself.

"_It could have been like this, you know, if you'd never picked up a sword. You'd have been happy with some lands and some seeds to plant."_

The lavender eyes widened. If he hadn't known better, he'd have sworn that he'd actually _heard_ her voice.

_Swish. Splash._

_Swish. Splash._

He went back to his cleaning with renewed vigor. He didn't have to think.

_Swish. Splash._

Cleaning would focus his mind. Or unfocus it. He wasn't sure which he needed more at the moment.

_Swish. Splash._

This was Kaoru-dono's dojo. She was asleep inside. This was her laundry. And his. And Yahiko's. He'd never washed _her_ laundry.

Except for once... Once when she couldn't...

_Blood. Her kimono and obi were slashed and covered in blood. But even over the sweet scent of blood, he'd been able to smell the sweeter scent of white plums. She lay inside cleaned, dressed in fresh clothes. Lying on her futon as though asleep. And for some reason that even he couldn't understand, Battousai was outside washing the blood out of her kimono and obi. Because nothing of her could smell like blood. She had always been white plums. He needed to hold onto that. It never occurred to him that he'd cleaned her blood out already. That it was the blood from his own untreated wounds that he smelled now..._

His eyes blinked open. Why? Why were these thoughts coming now?

He looked into the laundry water. The man who blinked back at him was no Battousai. Wide lavender eyes. Loosely tied, shaggy red hair. A sakabatou.

What would she think if she saw him now? Is this what she wanted? Was he allowing her spirit to rest? Or was he as guilty as Aoshi had been? Was he condemning her to wander with him by refusing to let go?

For a moment he saw what he once was. Narrowed amber eyes. Smooth red hair, pulled into a neat topknot. Blood on his face. On his hands. Blood in the water from _her_.

He closed his eyes. _Why? Why now?_ But he knew. It was around this time of year that she had died. Fifteen years ago, when he had killed her.

His reflection was the rurouni's once again when his eyes opened. Was he destroying her?

Something dripped into the water.

A single drop of blood.

Kenshin brought his hand to the scar on his cheek.

"Tomoe."

* * *

_Author's Note: Okay... this was the first Ruroken fanfiction I ever attempted. And there is a story behind it. I had the entire story planned before I even began writing it. Like, "Out of Time," I have pages of notes for this one. A lot of planning went into it. But only two chapters are written so far. This is the reason: I started it before I was even fully done watching the Kyoto arc. I told myself I had to finish the series before I would attempt anything. So all I'd seen was the first season and almost all of Kyoto, the Director's cut of _Trust and Betrayal_, and a few of the manga. I really wanted to write a fic, but I needed a villain. One of my friends had watched the entire anime, and assured me that the villain I chose had never been used. So, I worked out my story._

_I planned a revenge fic, featuring Tomoe's little brother, Enishi._

_I'm sure now you see why I never posted this fic, nor have I continued it. Obviuosly, I was attempting to write Jinchuu. When I discovered it actually existed in the manga, I stopped, planning to at least read Jinchuu before I attempted to write this._

_Well, I've read Jinchuu now, and tho I still feel like I'm stepping on toes, I'd like to try this again. I apologize if it is redundant and uncreative. But I tried. And I really don't want those old notes to go to waste._

_Also, I don't know where the title came from. It sounds familiar, so I may have accidentally ripped someone off. If i did, please tell me, I will either change the title or properly credit the originator. Thank you. (Note: Title has been changed, as my very first reviewer pointed out the original title, "Freedom Isn't Free" was used. Thank you. All is better.)  
_

_And thanks for reading. Please review._

_Dewa mata._

_Sirius _


	2. Chapter 1

**"A Price for Freedom"**

**Chapter 1**

"You're going to Kyoto?" She set the teapot down with a soft thud. Her wide blue eyes were worried. "Why? Kenshin... I thought... I thought Kyoto only held bad memories for you. Why do you want to return so soon?"

Kenshin smiled gently at Kaoru. "Once, yes, Kyoto was a place I avoided, that it was. In all of my travels throughout Japan, I never wandered near there. It is in Kyoto that I am most well-known as hitokiri Battousai. That is one of the only places in Japan that even twelve years into Meiji, I still need to cover my scar to escape recognition."

"Then why?"

Kenshin didn't answer right away. He was looking past her at the blue skies through the dojo window.

Kaoru watched Kenshin with concern. She didn't like this. Old instincts were telling her not to let him wander off. He might not return. Another part of her was still terrified by his last trip to Kyoto when he had nearly died. She didn't think she could take that again. And according to Megumi, it was possible that _Kenshin_ wouldn't be able to take it either.

Finally Kenshin's eyes focused back on Kaoru and his distant expression faded. He smiled at her. "I just need to go. I have something I need to do."

Kaoru's eyes hardened. "All right, Kenshin," she said, her voice lowering dangerously. "Out with it. What's going on in that head of yours?"

"Oro?"

"Don't 'oro' me!" She crossed her arms. "Fine! Go if you want to, but I'm going with you."

Kenshin opened his mouth to speak, but Kaoru would have none of it. "Don't try to talk me out of it. I'm going. I can spend the time visiting with Misao. We haven't written back to her in awhile. Now would be the perfect time to visit." Her eyes lit up. "In fact, Yahiko and Sano might want to come, too!"

Her abrupt change in moods startled Kenshin.

"Oro?"

Kaoru glared daggers at the one-time assassin before here, clenching the teacup filled with scalding tea in her hand.

His eyes widened to saucers, and he tried to back up. "I do not want to fight over it, that I most certainly do not," he said hurriedly, clearly afraid of her wrath. The last thing he needed right now was Kaoru-dono getting angry and throwing her cup at him. "If you want to come, that would be fine. Maybe even Megumi-dono can join us. I never meant that I had to go alone!" He held his hands out in front of him to keep her back.

Kaoru slowly set her tea down and started at him in surprise. "You didn't? I guess I just thought..." She sighed. "It's just lately you've worried me, wandering off the way you have. And now, saying that you need to go to Kyoto and not telling me why... I just thought..."

"I would like to visit somebody," Kenshin replied softly. "A few people actually. Misao and the Oniwaban-shu are some of them. Hiko Seijuro is another."

"Your old master? Is something wrong?"

Kenshin blinked. "Wrong?"

"You never visit that guy unless something's wrong!"

Kenshin relaxed. "No. Nothing like that. I do not wish to only visit him during hard times, that I do not. I thought that perhaps Hiko would like some compant now and then."

Kaoru's eyebrow raised. "Are we talking about the same Hiko Seijuro? Because the one I'm thinking of is a self-imposed hermit who attracts women like magnets when he _does_ bother rejoining the world. And as I recall, this same Hiko is the one who seems to relish in making you miserable. Is this the same Hiko you were planning on visiting, or is there another one near Kyoto, Kenshin?"

Kenshin smiled. "That is the only living Hiko Seijuro I know of, that he is. He secludes himself, because he's lost faith in people. He's lonely. He doesn't trust anyone, except for me... sometimes. He needs human contact occasionally, that he does. But with Shishou, you can't tell him." Kenshin tilted his head back, thinking. "And he doesn't make me miserable, Kaoru-dono. Well, only a little. Only when I don't listen."

"Sanosuke should meet him," Kaoru said. "Maybe Hiko could teach him to stop trusting other people so much to pick up his tab!"

"I don't think Sanosuke and Hiko would get along well, that I do not. I probably would be a good idea not to introduce them." Kenshin said thoughtfully. Then he stood. "I would like to leave in a week if possible. Can we make preparations by then?"

Kaoru nodded. "Of course. I'll contact Misao right away. But what's the hurry?"

Kenshin had that strange expression again as he gazed once more at the sky. "Winter will be coming soon." There was a different quality in his voice that made Kaoru shiver.

_Blood in the snow as another swordsman tried to kill Battousai. This was the final battle, and Kenshin knew that he wouldn't live through it. Even as he fought, he felt his life flowing from his body with the blood from many wounds. Too many. Then the swordsman's blade sliced toward him. Kenshin readied his own katana, determined to go down fighting... She came out of nowhere, throwing herself in the way. More warm blood in the snow, mixing with his own, making red slush._

"Kenshin?" Kaoru's voice came as though from a great distance.

He blinked and refocused on the pretty, dark-haired girl in front of him... so different from the other, but in many ways so similar. When he spoke, his voice was back to normal. "Winter will be coming soon, that it will. And winters around Kyoto can be harsh."

* * *

_Author's Note: There's the last of what I had. Now I have to write new stuff... God save us all..._

_(involuntary shudder at thought of trying to finish this one...)_

_Thanks for reading. Please review!_

_Dewa mata!!_

_Sirius_


End file.
